The Seafarer
The fragrant summer breeze encapsulates the verdant valleys bringing forth, as it often does, a muffled whisper from the seas miles apart. But, there’s a pandemonium in my head that I hear no whisper even when it speeds past right through me. As the sun wearily traipses on the distant horizon, I realise that I’m waiting there for a special messenger from the seas.
The breeze tells me a tale of a seafarer. He was once a mighty king but relinquished his throne for his desire to sail far and beyond in search of glories he’d never found on land. He sailed on until his hair turned hoary and died by the shore. But the waves still crash on the shores today hoping to see him rise, pull the mast, and sail again.
And the whisper softens and it's heard no more. The breeze has gone up the mountains to fetch me another message.
The Hermit
I wait by the casement for the summer zephyr for I know it's mountains to fetch me another message. The seafarer's tale has left my heart in splinters but I've managed to piece them together just in time. Hush! I can hear my long-awaited guest arrive now.
He tells me a tale of a recluse seated with his eyes shut and lips muttering a prayer inside a dark cave tenanted by bats. He was once a feared bandit known far and wide for his notoriety. But, he saw his late father in this dream one night and he was never the same man again that morning since. With his eyes swimming in tears of repentance, he vowed to atone for all his sins and peccadilloes. A hermit then he chose to become and followed the Buddha's path until he breathed his last.
~To all the Apas for their Light.